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The pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria

Chapter 10: 3. Uniform discharge Siphon.
By of Alexandria Hero
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About This Book

A systematic practical handbook of machines and demonstrations that uses air, steam, heat, and water to produce mechanical effects. The text gives clear descriptions, construction details, and diagrams for siphons, valves, pumps, fountains, jets, self‑acting mechanisms, and ritual or theatrical contrivances driven by pressure and temperature changes. Explanations focus on the mechanical principles behind pneumatic and hydraulic behaviors and on ways to control flow and timing, with numbered propositions that pair instructional steps with illustrative figures for building and operating each apparatus.

3. Uniform discharge Siphon.

Let there be a vessel, A B, (fig. 3.) containing water, on which a small basin, C D, floats, having its mouth covered with the lid C D. Through this lid and the bottom of the basin insert one leg of the siphon soldering it into the holes with tin. Let the other leg be outside the vessel A B, having its mouth lower than the surface of the water in A B. If we draw the air in the siphon through the outer extremity, the water will at once follow because of the impossibility of a continuous vacuum in the siphon; and the siphon, having begun to flow, flows on until it has exhausted all the water in the vessel: but the discharge will be uniform, since the projection of the outer leg below the surface of the water does not vary; for, as the vessel becomes empty, the basin sinks with the siphon. The greater the excess of the outer leg the greater will be the velocity of the discharge, yet still uniform. In the figure, E F G is the siphon described, and the surface of the water is in the line H K.